Mark F wrote:
> On Fri, 6 Feb 2009 13:29:54 +0100, Alfred Molon
> <> wrote:
>
>> Apparently a new material has been developed which has 100 times the
>> sensitivity of standard silicon (sorry article in German only):
>>
>> http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Schwarzes-Silizium-Sensor-Material-der-
>> Zukunft--/meldung/126940
> The material is from SiOnyx, which is evidentially a company in the
> United States. See this page:
> http://www.sionyx.com/detectors.asp
> and the rest of the site. (I am just giving a link to an English
> language site that discusses the material - I know nothing about the
> company itself or the materials and processes described.)
>> Not sure what this means exactly - perhaps that future cameras will have
>> a base ISO of 10000 and will go up to ISO 160000, 320000 or 640000?

"But [solar power is] the “long shot” application for the material,
Metcalfe acknowledges. Closer in is the possibility of major sensitivity
improvements in imaging applications such as night vision, surveillance,
digital cameras, and medical imaging. Saylor says that the company has
negotiated strategic partnerships with two “industry leaders,” and
though he won’t name names, he says one of them is active in the medical
imaging area."

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GregS wrote:
> In article <b5Yil.16192$>, Paul Furman
> <> wrote:
>> Mark F wrote:
>>> On Fri, 6 Feb 2009 13:29:54 +0100, Alfred Molon
>>> <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Apparently a new material has been developed which has 100 times
>>>> the sensitivity of standard silicon (sorry article in German
>>>> only):
>>>>
>>>> http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Schwarzes-Silizium-Sensor-Material-der-
>>>> Zukunft--/meldung/126940
>>> The material is from SiOnyx, which is evidentially a company in
>>> the
>>> United States. See this page:
>>> http://www.sionyx.com/detectors.asp
>>> and the rest of the site. (I am just giving a link to an English
>>> language site that discusses the material - I know nothing about
>>> the
>>> company itself or the materials and processes described.)
>>>> Not sure what this means exactly - perhaps that future cameras
>>>> will have a base ISO of 10000 and will go up to ISO 160000,
>>>> 320000
>>>> or 640000?
>>
>> This is kind of a venture capital marketing ad but:
>> http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2008/10/12/sionyx-brings-black-silicon-into-the-l
>> ight-material-could-upend-solar-imaging-industries/
>>
>> "But [solar power is] the “long shot” application for the material,
>> Metcalfe acknowledges. Closer in is the possibility of major
>> sensitivity improvements in imaging applications such as night
>> vision, surveillance, digital cameras, and medical imaging. Saylor
>> says that the company has negotiated strategic partnerships with
>> two
>> “industry leaders,” and though he won’t name names, he says one of
>> them is active in the medical imaging area."
>>
>
> Certainly medical imaging could benefit. The problem other than
> sensitivity,
> is array sizes and speed. Too much data screws everything up. What,
> with nano dots and flares, we got some crazy stuff going.

Reading the fine print on their site, it looks like most of those huge
performance gains are in the infrared region, not visible.
> greg

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Alfred Molon wrote:
> In article <>, J. Clarke says...
>
>> Reading the fine print on their site, it looks like most of those huge
>> performance gains are in the infrared region, not visible.
>
> According to this graph the gains are over the entire spectrum from UV
> to IR:
> http://1.2.3.9/bmi/www.heise.de/bilder/126940/0/1
>
According to the inventor, the silicon absorbs (up to) 80% of light in
the IR spectrum.
The "100x more sensitive" statement is wrong, as can only imply that the
invention breaks the first and second laws of thermodynamics, however
some potential investors don't worry about such trivial things.

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